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From H.D. Palmer to Isaac Feback
[page 1]
Independence MO
Dec[.] 20, 1862
Mr. Isaac Feback
Dear Sir[,]
I feel under obligation to you for your kindness toward my wife, when she was out after our pork. I am glad to know that there are a few of my old friends who are capable of rising above political predjudice & can still be friends, but I am sorry to say there are but very few of them. There are those who I have befriended in a time of adversity; when their lives & prayer [text stricken through] were in danger I protected them all that was in my power; & fed them & their stock nearly all last winter, & took care of some of them when sick for months. what I did for them, I done through kindness[.] notwithstanding all this, in return for my kindness toward them; they have had the audacity to go to my house & rob me & abuse me, behind my back. So to speak, I warmed the viper that is now ready & eager to sting me to death.

This letter, dated December 20, 1862, was written by H.D. Palmer in Independence, Missouri, to Isaac Feback. Palmer thanks Feback for his kindness, lamenting that he has few friends left who can rise above “political prejudice” as Feback has done. Palmer says he has done everything “to keep down jayhawking & protect my Union friends,” but has been betrayed by those friends and the militia who took his livestock without proper payment. Palmer notes that the oath of allegiance is meaningless unless it offers government protection for those who take it.

For more information on using this image, contact the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia at: 23 Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, Phone: (573)882-6028, E-mail: hirschg@umsystem.edu Publication, commercial use, or reproduction of this image or the accompanying data requires prior written permission from the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. Use of this image also requires that credit be given to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia.

From H.D. Palmer to Isaac Feback
[page 1]
Independence MO
Dec[.] 20, 1862
Mr. Isaac Feback
Dear Sir[,]
I feel under obligation to you for your kindness toward my wife, when she was out after our pork. I am glad to know that there are a few of my old friends who are capable of rising above political predjudice & can still be friends, but I am sorry to say there are but very few of them. There are those who I have befriended in a time of adversity; when their lives & prayer [text stricken through] were in danger I protected them all that was in my power; & fed them & their stock nearly all last winter, & took care of some of them when sick for months. what I did for them, I done through kindness[.] notwithstanding all this, in return for my kindness toward them; they have had the audacity to go to my house & rob me & abuse me, behind my back. So to speak, I warmed the viper that is now ready & eager to sting me to death.